On Hiatus
by hpsnluver214
Summary: My take on the 7th book. romance the first few chapters, but actionadventure later on...
1. Chapter 1

The wedding ceremony was going rather well.

Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour shared a kiss as the minister pronounced them husband and wife. The crowd went wild. Applause and a standing ovation ensued. The couple broke apart and grinned at each other, pure happiness evident on their faces. The audience clapped some more as the couple turned to face and beam at them. The sunshine that seemed to be peeking from the clouds the whole day finally went out of hiding and sent some rays to the couple. The newlyweds walked down the aisle as everybody followed them with their gazes.

**214-214-214-214-214-214-214**

Harry Potter was not having a good time.

Sure, he was overjoyed at the fact that Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour are now married, but couples' surrounding him just wasn't working out great for him. One particular reason for this is his end of relationship with the best girl he's ever met. Ginny was looking very good this day. The color gold radiates the beauty of her red hair, but Harry can't help but notice that the glow on her face was fake.

Harry and Ginny had been avoiding each other's gazes lately. They weren't caught alone together, although everybody assumes that they try to get some time alone as much as possible. One day before the wedding, everybody tricked them into being at the same room at the same time. Nobody eavesdropped at them, so after a minute's silence and becoming strangely interested on the floor, Ginny muttered, "Well, I'll just be going now…" Harry didn't stop her.

So far, they had succeeded on avoiding suspicious questions and looks sent their way. Nobody had any suspicions about them yet. Harry was, despite the heaviness of the situation, amused because the couples around them are supposed to be experts at noticing something's wrong at a relationship. But, as unexpected as it is, nobody knew anything yet. At least that's what Harry and Ginny think so.

Harry set his glass of oak-matured mead down at the table and excused himself for the bathroom. On his way back, he heard a slow music playing and figured that couples are now probably slow dancing. He passes a hallway, but halfway, he halted. Ginny was standing at the end of the hallway, watching the dancing couples, her back on him.

"I want to ask you something," she said in a little voice.

"Alright," Harry said.

"When you broke up with me, did you feel nothing at all?"

Even though Ginny had her back on him, Harry couldn't help but look at the ground.

"You said everything so calmly and strong. Were you not sad at all?" her voice broke.

Harry closed his eyes. He didn't know what to say. If he said he was, Ginny would just chase after him her entire life. He couldn't stand hurting her more than making her expect that he still felt something. He wanted her to move on, to forget about him, as stupid as it sounds. She would be better off without him. He might die doing this mission of finishing Voldemort, and he couldn't bear the thought of her cry over his dead body. It would hurt her greatest among the other people he knew. He opened his eyes.

"No," he said in the most expressionless voice he could muster. It sounded strange to him. He knew he'd hurt Ginny greatly when he said it. He expected her to fight back, to slap him, to punch him, to curse him, but to his disdain, she didn't. Instead, she turned around to face him, with tears falling down her eyes. She looked as if she expected to see a lie on his eyes, but she looked like she received the same impression of being expressionless from Harry's face. She gave a tiny sob before running past him and entering a room without slamming the door. Harry walked quietly to face the door, running his hand through it, knowing full well Ginny's crying quietly on the other side. He wanted to comfort her, to hug her once again, to smell that flowery scent ever so close. He stopped running his hands over the door and clenched it. He couldn't bring trouble to Ginny, not now that he has done what he has intended to do; to push her away from him. His desire to hold her strengthened the feeling of his heart breaking as he moved away from the door, letting tears of his own fall.

**214-214-214-214-214-214-214**

Harry found Ron and Hermione on Ron's room, chatting while playing a game of chess.

"Hey, it's my sister's birthday, get your butt down there and make her happy," said Ron jokingly. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"What's up, Harry?" she asked.

"Can I talk to you guys for a moment?" Harry asked. They stopped their game and turned to look up at him.

"Well, you're already talking to us, aren't you?" said Ron.

"Right," said Harry, "well, you know that going to this mission is probably the most dangerous thing we're about to do."

"No lies," said Ron. He earned a glare from Hermione which shut him up.

"I need to know that both of you are really in to this thing," said Harry seriously. "No turning back, no backing out."

"Haven't we told you this enough times now?" asked Hermione impatiently.

"Just answer the question," retorted Harry.

"Yes," they both said exasperatedly.

"Then if there are times where there's the most trouble, you must follow what I say."

"What d'you-"

"I mean that when the situation calls for it, I'll command you to do things that you'll probably think stupid, and you'll probably do otherwise."

"No, we won't-"

"Yes you will," snapped Harry. "Trust me on this, you will. Even I tried to do it, but I promised that I'd keep my word. Dumbledore told me to do everything he told me to do, and it was hell when I did. He forced me to keep on chugging that potion down his throat even though he's crying for me to stop it and to kill him."

"But Harry-" began Hermione.

"You have to promise me this Hermione. Especially you because you tend to think that everything Ron and I do are wrong, and you stop us all the time. Those may be for doing a prank or something, but this is serious stuff, Hermione. Both of you have to follow everything I tell you to do."

"Fine," said Hermione. Ron nodded in agreement.

"If I tell you to leave me and save yourselves, you'll do it?" Harry asked, remembering that this is the very same order Dumbledore gave him before they went off, looking for the fake horcrux.

Ron and Hermione looked at each other then back at him. They nodded seriously.

"You're sure about this?"

They nodded vigourously.

Harry smiled at them. "Good, glad we straightened that out."


	2. Chapter 2

(a/n This is the afternoon of Ginny's birthday. All of the Weasley's are there, even Percy.)

"So, any luck on R.A.B.?" asked Ron.

The trio was sitting down at the floor of Ron's room, Ron and Harry playing chess while Hermione was reading over names, finding who R.A.B. might be.

"I might if the both of you would stop playing and help me," snapped Hermione.

"Oh, come on, Hermione!" said Ron exasperatedly. "We did help you!"

"For the first five minutes!" said Hermione.

"We haven't got brains like yours, for God's sake!" Hermione blushed and she was saved to bite back a retort when Ginny entered the room. She stopped, however, when she caught sight of Harry.

"Er-" she said, "I don't think Arnold's here, so I'll just…" she turned her back on them and walked out.

"All right, spill," demanded Ron. Both he and Hermione looked at Harry.

"What?" he asked them.

"What's up with the both of you? You've been acting like a pair goons, what's going on?" asked Hermione.

"Did you two fight over something?" asked Ron.

"No," Harry said, "We just-" he paused.

"What?" asked Ron impatiently.

"We broke up." There was a moment's silence where Ron and Hermione stared at Harry incredulously.

"What d'you mean you two broke up?" demanded Ron looking murderous.

"I mean, we split up, I broke her heart, we're over."

"Oh dear…" said Hermione sympathetically. "I'm talking to Ginny." She stood up and left the room.

"Look," said Harry as Ron turned redder by every second that passed, "I don't want to make a big deal out of this-"

"Don't want to make a big deal? It _is _a big deal! How could you do this to her? What, weren't things working out?"

"Everything's fine-"

"Then why'd you break up with her?" Ron yelled, standing up.

Harry ran his hand through his hair. He looked straight into Ron's mad eyes. "I can't have Voldemort getting to her, I won't have it," said Harry dismissively.

"Don't be stupid, of course he won't-"

"Sooner or later, he'll figure it out, and by that time, it'll be too late. The same thing'll happen to her just like what happened to Sirius. She'll hate hiding, and Voldermort'll get to her, for sure, in some way. I can't avoid that if we continue on with our relationship. As much as it hurts the both of us, we can't. Even if she tries to fix everything, she can't, and I won't let her. You _know _we can't fix it. Not until Voldemort's gone, and that could take years. I can't have her hoping for a false hope. Let's face the facts here, it's a huge possibility that I'll die killing Voldemort. And if Ginny and I are together at that time, she'll just lose it. I can't bear seeing her cry, Ron-"

"Then why don't you stop her crying right now by going back together with her?"

"She'll be hurt more if we continue on with our relationship. I only want what's best for her, and this is it at the moment," said Harry, hoping Ron would stop, but he didn't.

"How'd you even know it's the best for her right now?"

"What, and you do?" retorted Harry back, his temper rising. "You're her brother, Ron. You know her as a sister, but you can't possibly know her as a lover. She'll do everything to get what she wants, but I have to stop her from getting this one. We can't continue being together, all right? So just deal with it, because I'm getting sick of this conversation we're having."

"So am I, but I'm one of her brothers, I can't let this go!"

"You're right, you can't. But keep it to yourself because I'm not having more of it. Don't lash it out on me again. You can't do anything about it, my mind's made up. We're not going back together unless I'm done with Voldemort."

By this time, Harry and Ron turned their heads to see the door burst open to reveal the rest of the Weasleys, except Ginny, on the doorway. They obviously heard Ron's and Harry's shouts and came to see what's going on.

Harry looked back at Ron. "Are you still in with Hermione and me?"

"You mean-"

"Yes, I mean that."

"Are you kidding? I'm not letting the both of you get all the fun!"

"Fine, then pack up tonight, we're leaving tomorrow morning," ordered Harry, summoning a jacket and putting it on.

"What?" it was the other Weasleys who said this.

"Where are you going?" asked Ron.

"Out. For a walk. I'll be back when it's time to leave."

"You haven't even packed yet!"

Harry waved his wand and all of his things began to settle themselves inside his trunk. When the trunk lid snapped shut, he said, "Now I have."

And with that, he left the Weasley's staring at him, at a loss of words.

**214-214-214-214-214-214-214**

"Should we follow him?" asked Mrs. Weasley.

"No," answered Mr. Weasley, "this is good, at least. He could think things over."

"What happened here?" asked Charlie.

"Er-" said Ron, "we just had a fight."

"About what?" asked Fred.

"It was about him and Ginny."

"Ron," said Bill, "you're being too overprotective, leave her alone just this time."

"No, it's not that…" mumbled Ron.

"Spit it out, then," said George impatiently.

"They broke up."

"Oh," came the short reply from George.

"B-but why?" stuttered Mrs. Weasley. "They were so happy together, weren't they?"

"That's what I thought too. Well, Harry told me a different reason why-"

"So all those times," interrupted Fred, "that we were putting them together in the same room…"

"Dear lord," said Mr. Weasley. "Wait, since when have they broken up?"

Just then, there was an interruption from behind them. Hermione and a puffy-eyed Ginny came in the room with a puzzled look on their faces.

"Where's Harry?" asked Hermione. Everybody ignored her as they stared at Ginny.

"Why did you two break up?" asked Fleur. (a/n Remember Fleur is now also a Weasley. Oh, and sorry, I can't write her accent, I'm bad at it, so, pardon me.)

Ginny looked away from them before she answered, "Harry wanted to focus on other things right now." The others waited for more details. She looked back at them, with strength in her voice. "He has to do other things first, we all know that."

The others looked questioningly at her.

"Weren't things going well, dear?" asked Mrs. Weasley.

"Everything was fine, Mum. There wasn't anything wrong between us. It was…other stuff."

"Tell us, then" said Fleur in a soothing voice.

"Well, you know how Harry is…when he's mind's set, he's determined; he can't turn back or anything."

"You're speaking puzzles here, Ginny," said Fred.

"I-I don't want to talk about it right now. Maybe some other time, but not now…"

"It's okay, honey," said Mrs. Weasley as she came over to hug a now-sobbing Ginny.

"Wait a second," said Mr. Weasley strongly. "What does Harry mean when he said you two," he pointed at Ron and Hermione, "are going with him? Where are you three going?"

Ron and Hermione looked at each other.

"Harry let it slip that we're going tomorrow morning," answered Ron to Hermione's puzzled look. "He said we should pack tonight."

"Oh no, could we tell them where we're going?" asked Hermione. "I mean, even my parents don't know where we're going, all they know is that we're not going back to school and we're off to do something somewhere…"

"Where are you going?" demanded Mrs. Weasley.

Ron and Hermione jumped. "Er- you can't know, Mum," answered Ron rather lamely.

"And why the _hell _not?" asked Mr. Weasley. Ron and Hermione looked scared even more.

"Only-only the three of us are supposed to know, really," said Hermione in a little voice.

"Yeah, and we're not really sure where exactly we're going tomorrow. Harry's the only one who does," said Ron.

"You're not leaving unless you tell us, Ronald Weasley!" yelled Mrs. Weasley.

Ron looked helplessly at Hermione, who looked the same as he did. "What're we going to tell them?" he asked her.

"We're determined to help, Harry, aren't we?"

"Yeah."

"We promised him we'll be there 'til the end."

"Yeah," said Ron stronger now.

"We aren't leaving his side until each of us is dead."

"Yeah!" exclaimed Ron. "Yeah! You can't make us not leave, Mum."

Hermione nodded cheerfully. "We're going with Harry, no matter what. We didn't have to make an Unbreakable Vow to promise him that, it's just the mark of our friendship."

"But-" began Mrs. Weasley.

"_My_ parents let me go. They said it was my decision what I want to do with my life now that I'm of age, and that they trust it."

"Don't you trust _my _decision, Mum?" asked Ron rather sounding like accusing her.

"Of course, I do, but-"

"Then you have to trust me on this one," said Ron with simplicity and finality. There was a moment of silence until Mr. Weasley broke it.

"I see there's no convincing you otherwise on this."

"Nope," grinned Ron.

"Alright then, you have our permission."

"_Arthur!_" exclaimed Mrs. Weasley.

"You can try to stop Ron, Molly, but you'll fail. Aren't you at least proud that he's doing something with his life? Something, I _hope_," he added emphasis on the word, looking at both Ron and Hermione, then back at his wife again, "is worth going away for."

"But-" said Mrs. Weasley.

"Molly?"

"Fine," snapped. She stormed down the floor. They could hear loud sounds of plates being smashed at the kitchen.

"You better write to your mother when you go off doing whatever you're going to do," said Mr. Weasley. And with that, he went downstairs to calm his wife down.

"Where are you three going, exactly?" asked George suspiciously.

"Sorry, our lips are sealed," grinned Ron.

"Whatever," said Charlie, "let's go downstairs." After a few seconds, only Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were left in the room.

"Ginny," said Hermione sympathetically, "are you going to be okay?"

"Yeah," sniffed Ginny, nodding, "I'm fine." She smiled at them both.

"Harry can be a git sometimes, you know," said Ron.

"Is that supposed to make me cheerful," said Ginny, still smiling.

"Well, yeah, but it's true, isn't it?"

"Yeah, but don't go picking up a fight with him about us, okay?"

"Why not?" asked Hermione.

"It's just between the two of us; I don't want you two, especially _you_, Ron, fighting just because of our relationship problems."

"All right, whatever," said Ron.

"He must love you that much to push you away this hard," said Hermione.

Ginny grinned at Hermione, "You know, I want to have your brains sometimes."

Hermione blushed at this, "Come on, let's go down for dinner."

**214-214-214-214-214-214-214**

"What drinks do you have?" asked Harry.

"Well, we have some tea and soda, what would you like?" asked the barman standing behind the counter where Harry sat at the other side, alone in a muggle pub.

"Do you have something stronger?"

The barman grinned at him. "Problems with a girl?" he asked while shaking up some drinks for Harry.

"Yeah, sort of," said Harry. The barman gave him his drink.

"Used to have those too, when I was your age."

"Does it bother you, I'm just seventeen, you know?" asked Harry.

"Don't worry, I'm the owner, just don't blab that I serve underage teens some o' this and that."

"Thanks," grinned Harry. "What problems did you have?"

"Well, there was one where the girl had to move, and we argued if we could keep up our relationship. In the end, we couldn't. The distance between us was just too huge."

"Did you ever see each other again?"

"Yeah, I saw her with a husband of her own and some kids…We didn't really get a chance to talk, but I'm sure she didn't want to either. What about you? What's your problem?"

"Well, see, I have to do this thing, and I can't do that thing unless we're over. There are too many risks, you know? There's a huge chance she'll get in trouble if we keep it up."

"So you broke it off?"

"Yeah, I had no other choice. It's better if she moves on and finds somebody else and forgets about me."

"I doubt she'll forget about you," said the barman. "Nobody really forgets a past relationship. Some are memorable in a good way, some aren't. But I think after some time, this girl of yours will move on. She will, if you don't let her back in."

"That's what I'm planning to do. She's much better off without me."

"Do you want some advice?"

"You have any?" asked Harry.

"After this thing you'll be doing, do you want to get back to her?"

Harry stared at the barman before answering. "Yeah, I guess so, yeah."

"Then hurry up with this thing you're supposed to be doing, and promise her you'll come back for her afterwards."

"But what if there's no 'afterwards?'"

The barman gazed at him for a while with twinkling blue eyes Harry thought familiar. "I see, so there might be no 'afterwards.'"

"There's a chance, yeah."

"Well, you're gonna have to choose, come back to her or not. Either way, there's no escaping the pain, for you or for her."

Those words stuck itself on Harry's mind. If Harry doesn't die, and Ginny moves on, he'll be the one hurt. But if he dies…an image of him dead with Ginny crying over him flashed through his mind…He downed the rest of his drink in one gulp.

"Hurts, doesn't it?" asked the barman.

"Like hell," replied Harry.

"Want another round?"

"Yes, please. And could you put it in a disposable cup or something. I want to take a walk outside."

"Of course." After a minute, he came back with the drink. "Here you go, extra strong."

"Thanks very much," said Harry, taking the drink. He grinned at the barman, who smiled benignly back at him. There was definitely something about that smile that was familiar to Harry.

"Choose well, Harry," said the barman.

Harry muttered his thanks and walked toward the door, still thinking where he saw that familiar smile before. He stopped near the door, his heart racing. How did the barman know his name? He turned to look back at the bar where he last saw him, but to his disappointment, the barman was nowhere to be found. He turned around one last time, walked out of the pub, and sipped some of his drink. It tasted very much like oak-matured mead.

_Dumbledore's favorite_, thought Harry. He couldn't help but smile.


End file.
